A Pile of Empty Brass
by Johnnysnow2012
Summary: This is the story of a US Marine, and how he struggles to survive in the onset of the zombie apocalypse and its aftermath. They don't train you to fight zombies.


Disclaimer- I own nothing, I am not associated with any organization here, I don't own the Walking Dead, and all of the information used here was found on the internet.

Authors Note- this is much different than my usual fare of depressing style one shots. I'd been toying with the idea of a zombie apocalypse story for a while and once I discovered and became a huge fan of the Walking Dead, I decided to go through with it. This isn't your typical Walking Dead story. I'm going to focus on my OC for now; he definitely won't meet up with the group, but maybe Daryl. No there will be no romance in this story. Reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated; I'm always in need of ways to improve my work.

I guess the beginning is a good a place to start as any. The day began like every other Wednesday since I started college. My alarm blaring angrily at 8:30 for me to wake the fuck up and get to History class. I groaned and rolled over, rubbing my face and reaching for my phone to turn off the little bastard for stealing my sleep. A career insomniac I was lucky to grab two- three hours of sleep a night. I trudged off to the shower, popped my contacts in and turned that bitch on ice cold. The water felt like tiny little stinging needles, stealing my breath away and waking me right up. On my way back to my little dorm room I pressed power on the coffee maker. Insomnia runs arm in arm with a caffeine addiction and while I'd rather drink a nice cold red bull or a monster, coffee had its perks, especially in October; hot, easy, and cheap. I got dressed, my usual attire, dark blue jeans, black tee shirt and a button down, pulled on my coat, grabbed my bag and coffee and out the door. I didn't worry about waking my roommate waking up, the lucky bastard didn't have class until 3 pm and could sleep like a dead man. I popped in my head phones, the Artic Monkeys blaring nice and loud as I walked through campus. It was quiet and nearly empty today, but it was 8:50 in the AM so I didn't think twice. After finding a seat in the lecture hall I pulled out my notebook and took that first sip of coffee. My fellow coffee junkies out there will tell you that the first sip is the best. The way it singes your tongue and the bitter delicious flavor hits your mouth is wonderful. I drank it black, in my opinion it's the only way, enough with those lattes and mocha crap. I was a pretty normal college kid; except for one thing. I was also a reservist in the United States Marine Corps, a weekend warrior. By trade I was an artillery man, operating that fantastic defeating beast that was the M777A2 155 MM howitzer. Boy how I loved when that boom smacked you right in the chest. I had been through boot camp and subsequent training and was slated to be stationed in Hawaii on active duty when good old Uncle Sam told me I was now a reservist. So I decided to go to college and see what I could do about becoming an officer. I loved the Marine Corps, even after being screwed over. They taught me a lot, made me a very mature person, I didn't realize it until I started college how different I was from the rest of my age group. My dorm was full of immature freshman, little ambition and discipline in life, no drive or passion. My roommates were really cool but the rest of the people in my building were interested in two things, getting high and partying. Yeah I liked to drink but I preferred bars to basements. I kept myself in great shape, eating healthy and doing ridiculously challenging workouts that made me look crazy, but I didn't care. I looked good and I felt great. Until that day.

It was on my way back from my first class that I noticed something was up. Campus police were everywhere, I kept getting text messages from our school's alert system about assaults and attacks but I didn't think twice. I went back to my dorm, pulled out my laptop and began to write a paper for English class. My next class was Algebra at 2 so I had plenty of time to chill. An hour later things started to get weird. Living in the city I was used to sirens and police horns but today was different, I could hear sirens all over the city, way more than usual. Dozens of news helicopters buzzed over the city, filming things. Smoke plumed up from downtown and I started to get a little freaked out. We didn't have cable so I didn't keep up much with the news so I jumped on the internet. Holy fuck. Every news page was the same, attacks and riots in every major city all over the world. Body counts rising. Shit what the fuck was going on. I called my NCO Corporal Smith, to see if we were getting activated. No answer. I called the next guy on my chain of command, Corporal Pasquali, no answer again. Some crazy shit was going down. I dialed my best buddy, brothers in all but blood, Lance Corporal Baker, he picked up, "

"Bro what's going on, have you been watching the news?" I asked him, "The fuck you talking bout man I just woke up." I shook my head and chuckled. "Dude pull up CNN, some shits going down."

"Fine fine fine," he returned. About 30 seconds later I heard a sharp intake of breath. "Jesus Christ, what the hell is going on? Did you call anyone in the unit yet?" "Yeah" I responded, "Smith and Pasquali didn't pick up, you should try Gunny, I know your boys with him." "Alright yeah good call, gimme on sec" he hung up after that and I continued to surf the web, looking to see what I could find. NBC was reporting that what had looked like a flu outbreak quickly developed into something else, something unknown. The CDC had no idea what was going on, but there were clashes between civilians and police all over the world and the death toll was already in the hundreds. CNN said that all military activity in Afghanistan had been halted and the National Guard had been mobilized. Shit I thought, we must be next. I went to school in Philadelphia and my units HQ was about an hour away, out near Allentown. My phone buzzed and I picked up, "Whats the word." Baker said "Gunny told me that there's some type of disease outbreak all over the world, he said that the Pentagon is only mobilizing the ANG and keeping us in reserve. Half our unit is sick, no idea why. He also said to keep inside, remain standby and if the shit really hits the fan, beat feet to Allentown." I started to think, how bad was this going to get. "Alright man, well stay safe, I'll be in touch."

Now what. I defiantly wasn't going to class, I didn't want to run into anyone who was sick. All of my roommates were still asleep so I didn't think they were sick so I felt pretty safe. But they needed to know the situation. I had three roommates, Pete, Joel, and Teddy, all great guys. I went to each bed and shook them awake, told them some shit is happening and gave them a second to get their wits about them. Once they were awake I told them the situation, "Alright so some flu outbreak happened yesterday all over the world, there's riots everywhere, thousands are dead and the body counts rising. My superiors told me to stay put and don't come in contact with anyone." They were silent. "Look out the window," I continued, they saw the philly skyline, the smoke and the choppers, heard sirens. "Holy shit," Pete muttered, "What are we gonna do?" "Stay put," I told them, "Wait for further word and news." Teddy exclaimed, "But what about my family?" "Well were just going to have to hope they're okay." They all stayed silent at that, before nodding and moving to go back to sleep. I laughed, some things never changed. I made sure the door was locked, just in case and spent the next few hours writing my paper. Dinner time rolled around and I made some ramen noodles. Since I had slept much the night before I was getting pretty tired. I told my roommates not to leave the room under any circumstance, took a hot shower and hit the rack. Surprisingly sleep came quickly and I drifted off. I slept like a baby, until the screams started. I heard the first scream, a woman's, loud and piercing, I quickly jumped to my feet, what in the fuck. My roommates were huddled around the window. Philly had gotten worse. Fires crowded the skyline, it sounded like the amount of sirens had tripled in number. "What is going on guys," Ï have no fucking idea but the cities gone to hell," Pete said. I looked out the window, it looked like a 15 car pileup happened at the intersection outside our building, bodies littered the pavement. "Holy Fuck." My instincts and training told me to run out there and help these people, but my gut told me no. "Guys I have a really bad feeling about this, I think we should get some rest, something's telling me we won't be getting much in the near future. Get me all the plastic water bottles and containers we have. We need to stockpile our water before the pressure dies and we don't have it anymore." Pete kept these plastic containers under his bed filled with snacks, I had about a dozen water sports bottles and a Camelback. We filled up everything we had that can hold water. My roommates went to sleep and I checked my phone to see if there was any news from my unit. Nothing. I went back to sleep, hoping I'd get some intel tomorrow. The first thing I did that morning was check out the window. The fires still raged but all of the bodies were gone. What the fuck. Screams still echoed around the city. Our internet was down, we still had power and water and cellular service but no wifi. Pete told me that Joel and Teddy left to go find their family. I hope they find them safe but I was pissed they ignored my rule. At least they locked the door.

Pete and I sat there for a week in our room while Philadelphia burned. Every few hours we heard a muted scream echo. After the first day the sirens died, after the second day we stopped hearing the noises that made the city a city. There was no noise pollution, no cars, no subways, no trains. Only periodic screams. We passed the time sleeping and playing xbox. I told him we had to ration our food while it lasted, we would eat a power bar every 8 hours with some peanut butter. It wasn't much but it was enough. On day 7 my phone rang for the first time since I talked to Baker. "Hello?" "LCPL Jones this is Captain Simon, glad to hear your still alive." "Sir? Still alive? What the fucks going on?" "Listen up, here's the situationand it's going to sound crazy. The dead are walking." Uh what. "It's a disease, nearest we can figure, its spread through biting. This shit is straight out of a fucking movie LCPL, I aint making this shit up. Most of our units dead, they tired to get here as soon as the cities started to burn, there was a massive pileup on the interstate and the fucking zombies chewed right through them. I've managed to contact a dozen or so Marines, were trying to coordinate a counter attack of some sort. You need to arm yourself a get to base Marine. Marines work best in a team, you know this. From what the Pentagon told me, these fucking walkers only go down with a shot to the head. You need to pierce the brain and don't get fucking bit or you're done. I've been in contact with the rest of the reserve units in the area; Headquarters Company has been overrun, and Fort Dix is under heavy attack. We're trying to rally all units and convoy out to Fort Indiantown Gap. We lost radio communication with them yesterday, but to my knowledge it's still full of supplies, weapons and ammo. Get to base ASAP, were moving out in 5 days, with or without you. Semper Fi Marine." I took a deep breathe, trying to process all this information. "Roger that Sir, I'll get there. Semper Fi." He hung up. I turned to Pete. "You aren't going to believe this but it's a zombie apocalypse out there. What's left of the Marine units in the area are mobilizing and moving to an Army base out in Western PA. They've got food and supplies there. I've gotta get out there, do you want to come with me?" Pete was silent, his eyes showed fear and I didn't blame him. "No," he said, "Ive got to find my family." I completely understand bro, take half the food and water bottles and one of my knives. Good luck man, if I can I'll be in contact with you." He nodded, loaded up his back pack with a change of clothes, 5 water bottles, a pack of power bars and crackers. I handed him one of my little pocket knives that I had and he left. I never saw him again.

First things first I thought, take stock of my gear. With me at school I had one pair of desert cammies, a small military back pack, my flak jacket and a 7 inch combat knife. I got dressed in my cammies, if I was going to fight, it was in uniform. I filled the camelback attached to my flak, pulled my boots on, put some extra skivvies in my back along with the remaining power bars and crackers and the last 5 water bottles. I needed to arm myself. The Captain said to go for the head, so I took a broom and broke off the sweeper part until the metal part at the bottom was a jagged edge. I geared up, flak and Kevlar helmet on, combat knife in a cross draw position on my left shoulder. I grabbed the scarlet and gold Marine Corps flag hanging on my wall, just in case. I needed a firearm. I quietly opened the door and peered around my hallway, it was silent. I knew the basics of clearing houses and rooms thanks to my training but I wasn't about to clear an entire dorm full of potential enemies alone without a firearm. I stalked down the hall way to the stairs, making the least amount of noise as possible. I wanted to make my way to the campus police station and raid there armory, it was only a block away from my building and hopefully it was empty. I gripped my makeshift broomstick in my hands, noting to myself to find gloves. The glass door to my building was shattered so I stepped through, boots crunching on broken glass. There was a body right outside, laying on the deck, I didn't recognize him but I kicked him over and nearly gagged. His flesh was rotting and failing off, the skin a sickly brown color with a decaying look to it. The eye balls were open and dead looking, murky brown and white. There was a neat hole in the middle of the forehead, looked like a knife wound. Must have been Pete I thought. There was a figure shuffling about 30 meters away. It was the only person in sight. Something was wrong with it, it was hunched over, arms hanging low. I whistled at it and the thing turned around and snarled. It was one of them. It broke into a trot at me, I held my ground and waited. 30, 20, 15, 10 meters away, shambling closer and closer, my palms sweated by my grip was firm, when the walker was 2 meters away I executed a straight thrust up into the things brain, it fell back taking my broomstick with it. It hit the deck and didn't move. I placed my boot on its chest and yanked my spear out of its brain with a wet slick. Huh, I though, that was easy.

I reached the campus police station. It was a wreck, flipped over buggies and cars, shattered windows and blood everywhere. There were 3 walkers shuffling outside the building, I quietly snuck up behind the first one and shoved my makeshift spear into its brain, making sure to yank it out before the walker could take it to the ground with it. I quickly stepped forward and killed the second one the same way and the third one by jamming my stick through its ear into its brain. I turned in a circle, making sure I was alone before heading into the police station. It was completely empty, which freaked me out. Living on a college campus I figured most kids wouldn't have the presence of mind to find weapons and would just run. There should be a few weapons hanging around. The office part of the station was completely destroyed, desks and computers were flipped, papers strewn everywhere and bodies on the floor. I quietly made my way towards a stainless steel door in the back corner. It was locked with a large padlock. Fuck. I turned around and saw a body on the floor, I kicked it with my boot and when it didn't move I flipped it over. The dead cop didn't look like a zombie but I wasn't taking chances. I shoved my spear through his brain and unclipped his belt. I grabbed the key ring off it, and walked over to the door, 7 keys later I found the match, unlocked the door and stepped back. I assumed this was the armory but I couldn't be sure, I swung the door open and peered into the darkness. I whistled, hoping to draw out any thing hiding. Nothing moved so I stepped and looked for a light switch. I found it, flicked it on and looked around. Fucking jackpot. Along the left side of the wall as a weapons rack with a couple Glock 17's, ammo boxes and magazines. Next to it was bullet proof vests, magazine pouches, helmets and belt and thigh holsters. Opposite that was a nearly empty weapons rack, it held one weapon. An M16A4. A weapon I was very very familiar with. I walked over to the holsters and strapped on a thigh holster on my right leg. I didn't need a vest because I already had one on. On my flak jacket I had three magazine pouches for M16 magazines, holding a total of 6 currently empty mags. I picked up a couple pouches for the Glocks and weaved two on the left and right side of my flack each. I picked up a Glock 17, I was unfamiliar with this weapon, the Marines only taught me rifles and machineguns, but I knew how handguns worked. I racked back the slide and checked to make sure it had a firing pin. I grabbed 8 magazines, they held 10 rounds each and walked over to the ammo boxes. I loaded all 8, slid 4 into my new black pouches on my flak and tossed the rest into my bags. 80 rounds would not be enough to make it to base. I grabbed an ammo box and slid the little foam carton the individual rounds are stored in and counted out 50 and dropped them into a back pocket on my pack. Satisfied I walked over to the M16. I loved this weapon system, I knew it inside and out and could shoot with the best of them. I quickly grabbed it, poked out the pin holding the upper and lower receiver together and slid out the bolt, once I saw there was a firing pin inside I pulled out my 3 point sling and attached it. I peered through the optic scope on the stop of the rail system, good, 4x zoom. Just like the ones I'm used to. There was only one magazine but it was a 30 round mag, just like the ones on my flak. I leaned the rifle up against the wall and grabbed the lone ammo can on the floor underneath the weapons rack. Awesome, 556MM just like the M16, it held 250 rounds, enough to fill all 7 magazines with some left over. I quickly began to shove stripper clip after stripper clip into the magazines until all 7 were filled. I grabbed one, slid it into the magazine well, smacked the bottom and racked the bolt back, seating a round. Locked and loaded. I placed the remaining mags back in their pouches and the leftover 50 rounds in my back. Damn this was getting heavy. Seeing the black milkcrate full of cleaning gear I picked up an extra Glock and slid in into a thigh holster and dropped it into my pack, deciding to leave the remaining weapons for other survivors. I shouldered my pack, adjusted the straps, took a drag from my camelback. Grabbing the rifle from where I left in on the wall and put my left arm through the loop in the sling so that it came under my left armpit and wrapped across the front of my chest. I'd never been to combat before but I felt ready, with a rifle in my hands I no longer felt vulnerable. I was ready.

Before I left the armory I decided to leave a note with the other weapons in case any survivors came across it. It read ATTENTION SURIVIORS. THE MILITARY IS ORGANIZING AT FORT DIX NJ AND FORT INDIANTOWN GAP PA. MAKE YOUR WAY THERE. THE ONLY WAY TO KILL A WALKER IS TO HIT THE BRAIN. GOOD LUCK. Using some scotch tape from the floor I taped it to the weapons rack. Now that I was armed the next thing I needed to do was to get to my car. My car was parked near my old house about 15 miles outside the city where I used to live with my parents before they died in a car accident. My trunk had the rest of my gear, my big hiking pack with a waterproof bag filled with my extra boots, 4 sets of desert and woodland cammies, winter and rain gear, socks and skivvies, and a sleeping bag. My old neighbor was a survivalist who kept a bomb shelter and an ATV. Maybe he's still there I mused, if not I can use that ATV to reach HQ. I left the police station and decided to walk along the train tracks outside of the city, away from the crowded city blocks that must be crawling with zombies. I made my way toward the university train station, walking on the yellow lines in the middle of the street, adopting standard patrol techniques. I saw walkers in the distance but I was reluctant to use my rifle in case the noise of my rifle drew a crowd of the dead fucks. The surrounding campus apartments and dorms must be packed full of the damn things. By this point I had slipped into the mindset of a Marine in combat, focused only at the task at hand. Sure I was scared shitless but I couldn't allow myself to dwell on the implications of this event. If this is how bad philly is, half burning and millions dead, the rest of the world couldn't have fared much better. I grabbed my camelback hose and sucked on the nipple for a few seconds and adjusted my shoulders. The train station was in view, I slowly walked up the stairs, rifle at the ready. Holy shite. There was a train bent like a snake, cars flipped, and bodies everywhere. Parts of the train cars were burning slowly, adding to the smoky haze that hung over the city. Two walkers shuffled along the concrete platform, I let the rifle drop to my side and unsheathed my combat knife. Quickly approaching zombie one I slid my knife upwards into the back of his neck before trotting towards zombie two and driving the knife through the top of her skull. They both dropped instantly. Deciding to forgo clearing the train cars I circumvented the wreck and began to walk for my car.

I passed four train stations without incident, it was as if the entire city had turned into a ghost town in one week. The last living person I saw was Pete but will all the walkers? Philly was a big city, they should be covering the streets. I continued walking, turning around every few paces to make sure nothing was sneaking up on me. I was crossing over a bridge when I heard it. Moans. Lots and lots of moans, loud as hell. I dropped to my right knee, snapped my rifle up and searched to them. I peered over the side of the bridge and found out where the zombies were. On Broad St. The entire street looked like a carpet of zombies, as far as I could see in both directions were zombies, all headed down towards the city. It seemed that half the city were already zombies. What the fuck were they doing I wondered to myself. There must be thousands of the bastards, all moving in one direction. I needed to move faster, I had about 5 miles to go until I left the city limits. The last train station before I hit the suburbs was exactly like the university station. Train flipped and on its side, cars everywhere, bodies on the ground and half of it was on fire. 7 walkers noticed me and let out a moan, begging to shuffle toward me. This was too many for me to take out with my knife. I snapped my rifle into my shoulder, centered the red chevron in the scope on the forehead of zombie one. Pause breath, squeeze trigger, shift. Pause, squeeze, shift. Repeat until all 7 were down. I took a deep breath; damn did I miss the smell of cordite. Turning slowly in a circle as I walked toward the corpses to ensure nothing was sneaking up on me, I made sure all the walkers were down, a nice neat entry hole in their foreheads but the exit would had blown out the entire back of their skulls. Nice I muttered under my breath, still got it. I continued moving forward, trying to get out of the area in case anything heard my gunshots, only a few miles to go. Continuing to walking alongside the tracks, I finally reached the suburbs, and my car. The station and parking lot were empty, it was quiet, eerie. I reached my car and popped the trunk, reaching in and yanking out my big ILBE pack I quickly took stock of the contents. I sealed up the waterproof vacuum bag, placed the sleeping bag on top and clipped the whole thing shut. I shoved it into the back seat, behind the driver side in case I needed to bug out quickly, placed my rifle and assault pack on the passenger seat and took my Kevlar off. I locked all the doors and slowly made my way out of the parking lot towards my old house. I drove slowly, still fearing that noise attracted the things. Keeping my speed under 25, I drove through redlights and stop signs, basically ignoring all traffic laws and cars on the side of the road. More than anything I wanted to help civilians; god knows if any are still alive, trapped in these little cookie cutter suburban houses. Once I could better prepare myself for this situation, fall into a unit, then we would help the civvies. But I couldn't help them if I was dead. Or worse. Dead but not dead, half dead, undead. Fuck it you know what I mean. I pulled into my old driveway, all was quiet, slipping my Kevlar back on my head I grabbed my rifle and stepped out of my car; taking care not to slam the door. My neighbor's car wasn't home, bad news. I put the stock of the M16A4 into my shoulder pocket, left hand on the magazine well, assuming the ready position. The back door was ajar, more bad news. I slowly slipped inside, eyes scanning every inch of the place. When I was taught how to clear rooms they always said to go in fast and loud but in this situation I did the exact opposite, I went from room to room on the first floor and it was clear. The basement door was nestled in the back of the kitchen, behind the dining room table. I heard a moan and flicked the safety off my rifle. Slowly easing the basement door open, my boots made soft thuds on the steps and there was a light sloshing noise coming from my camelpack. My heart beat thundered like a 50 cal and for the first time in my life I was genuinely scared. I reached the bottom of the steps and blindly reached around with my left hand until I found it and flicked it in. The room was bare except for a metal door along the left wall, must be his bunker I mused to myself. I knocked on the door and heard a low moan inside. Hello? I said aloud, another moan. Great, a walker. I swung the door open violently, acquired my target and squeezed the trigger, brain soup splattered the floor. Yuck. I looked at the walker, it was my neighbor, goddamnit. His bunker was stocked to the roof with everything you could need, canned goods, water buckets, MREs, beef jerky and dehydrated food. I grabbed a black duffel bag and began filling it with MRE's and dehydrated food, enough to last me a week, week and a half tops. Eyeing some water purification tablets I tossed them into the bag as well, along with a bottle of asprin and two pocketknives. With one last lingering look at the body of my old neighbor, my mind automatically shutting the clamps down as to remain in the combat mindset, I shut the door behind me and left the house. He had an ATV that he stored in his garage and if I was lucky it was there. The garage door slid upwards with a loud screech, I winced and dropped to a knee, swinging my rifle in a circle to my rear. Clear. Oh this must be my lucky day, the ATV was in there, with a full tank of gas. My car had much more room but the only way back to base was the interstate and last I heard it was totally backed up, I could use this to travel alongside the interstate. I went to my car and grabbed my big hiking pack, attached my assault pack to the top of it by way of the clips and strapped it down to the metal grates on the rear of the vehicle with rope and bungie cords. The small pack of food went ontop of the second persons seat directly behind me. Flak and Kevlar on my body, rifle slung over my back, muzzle to the deck and handgun in on my thigh; I idled the machine down the driveway and took off at high speed towards the turn pike. There was a massive pile up at the entrance to the interstate with flipped and burnt out cars but I was easily able to circumvent it. The road trip back to base was fairly easy, I mainly drove alongside the farms and fields that bordered the interstate. I made it in good time, maybe 2 hours, headed pretty slow. It was when I arrived in Bethlehem did shit start to go bad. The base was overrun. Maybe base is a exaggeration, more like fenced in compound. But it was fucked. There was a short line of burnt Humvees in the driveway to the compound with bodies in full gear laying all over the ground. There were over two dozen walkers milling around. It seemed as though the Marines got there, grabbed weapons and left immediately and were set upon by a horde. It was time to test my idea that they were attracted by noise. I ran up to the fence surrounding the compound and began to rattle it with my rifle, while screaming HEY HEY at the top of my lungs. The walkers moaned and turned and began to move towards me, I began shooting. Squeeze, shift, squeeze, shift. Repeat. Reload. Soon there were no more targets coming after me. Too many of the targets were wearing cammies. I needed to move. The captain was probably dead, I needed to load up supplies and get out of here. I coasted my ATV up to the headquarters building, stopped it and walked inside. The entry hall way was clear, supply was on my right and the door to the armory on my left, I decided to hit supply first. The room was empty. I grabbed an empty big pack and began filling the vacuum bag with waterproof clothing, gloves, hats, an extra sleeping bag, magazines in magazine pouches, and an extra camelback. I hefted up the pack and walked over to the armory. The door was ajar. Over half of the shelves that held rifles were empty. I tossed cleaning gear, lubricants, brushes, and baby wipes into my bag, along with extra slings, and a pair of bayonets. Once the bag was full I walked outside and dropped it next to my ATV, I needed new transportation. Among the Humvee fleet was a desert painted vehicle with a turret mount and a small trailer attached. I walked over to make sure it was empty, hopped inside and pushed the ignition button. The big hulking machine roared to life and I slowly drove it over to my ATV. I wheeled the ATV onto the trailer after unstrapping my pack and threw the bags onto the back seats. I ran back upto the armory and began grabbing M4s and M16s, piling them into the trunk of the Humvee, I grabbed 3 rifles of each type, a crate of empty magazines, and an M240 light machine gun and its spare bag of parts. I decided to lug the giant 50 cal and mount it to the turret of the Humvee, worrying about finding ammo for it later. I picked up 6 boxes of 556 ammo and two boxes of 762 ammo for the M240. Once the weapons were loaded I grabbed 8 cases of MREs from supply and stuffed them into various places in the Humvee, once all of my gear had been loaded I swapped my M16 for an M4, favoring the shortened stock and barrel , would be useful in clearing houses. I quietly shut all of the hatches and hopped in the Humvee. I sprinted back up to the Admin office, and I grabbed a map off the Captains desk. Every single major city in America had a giant red circle over it, extending far into the surrounding areas. This could only mean that every city was done for. Those things had taken over. But where the fuck did they come from? How did this mess start? Not knowing was killing me. Looking at the map I contemplated where I should go. Fort Indiantown Gap was much closer, only about 2 hours away. Fort Dix was over 4 hours away but I knew it had many more units stationed there, being a joint service base. Plus it had an airfield and air support was always good. I decided to head for Dix hoping there would still be some survivors. My massive vehicle coasted down the sloping drive way, I throttled up as I moved towards the interstate on ramp. To my left I could see most of the Lehigh Valley burning. I could see the smoke rising from Philadelphia way off in the distance, giant thick pillars of black smoke. Hopefully Fort Dix was still standing.


End file.
